Improvement in hem-stitching attachments for sewing-machines



v JfA. LAKIN. Hem-Stitching Attachment for Sewing-Machine No. 208,911. Patented Oct. 15,1878.

UNITED STATES PATENT O FIoE.

JAMES A. LAKIN, OF WESTFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS.

IMPROVEMENT IN HEM-STITCHING ATTACHMENTS FOR SEWING-MACHINES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 208,911, dated October 15, 1878 application filed February 1, 1878.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES A. LAKIN, of Westfield, in the State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Hem-Stitching Attachment for Sewing-Machines and that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, making a part of this specification, and to the letters of reference marked thereon.

The object of my invention is to provide an adjustable hem-stitch attachment for a sewin gmachine, to be attached to the cloth-plate of the machine, and adapted to automatically adjust itself and the work which is being sewed to the movements of the feed; and my invention consists of a guide-bar, through which extends the slotted plate, attached to and made adjustable upon the guide-bar, so that the needle-hole and its opening may be adjusted to any desired distance from the guide. The latter is provided with a spring to keep the two parts of the work up and prevent it from getting caught between the lower edge of the guide and the cloth-plate, and the guidehar is hinged to a slotted bar, by which the device is attached to the cloth-plate of the machine, all which will be more fully hereinafter described.

Figure l is a perspective view of my invention.

In the drawing, 0 is the guide-bar, having the slot or recess f made through the vertical portion, through which extends the horizontal plate B, having the needle-hole 0 made through it, and the opening 0 extending from the needle-hole to the edge of the plate, and the plate is made adjustable upon the guide-bar by the screws 0, turned through the slots at into the guide-bar. The guide-bar is provided with a spring, h, to prevent the work from being caught between the lower edge of the guide and the cloth-plate.

The guide-bar O is attached to the slotted bar A by means of a hinge, a, so that when the slotted bar is screwed firmly down to the cloth-plate the guide-bar, together with the plate B and spring h, may have a free movement up and. down with the feed.

To use the device, after the bar A is secured firmly to the cloth-plate and the device is adjusted, with the presser-foot of the machine upon the plate B, and the needle-hole in the latter corresponding vertically with the needle-hole in the presser-foot of the machine, the work is placed, one part over the plate B, between it and the presser-foot, and the other part beneath the plate B, between it and the feed, and both parts of the work above the spring h. The sewing is then proceeded with, and the stitches as they are formed pass along out the opening 0, the plate B and guide (1 rising and falling as the feed operates against the work to move it along. The device thus adapts itself and the material being sewed to all the different positions and movements of the feed automatically, and all undue strain upon the work and thread is thus obviated.

The device may be operative without the spring; but in practice I prefer to use it or a projection similar in position and form, (I prefer the spring,) to prevent the work from being occasionally caught between the clothplate and guide as the latter is raised by the movement of the feed.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new is 1. The guide 0, provided with the adj ustable plate B, combined with and hinged to the bar A, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

2. The combination of the guide 0, plate 13, and spring h with the bar A, substantially as and for the purpose herein described.

JAMES A. LAKIN.

Witnesses:

ANDREW L. BUSH, J. R. DUNBAR. 

